Alan Thomas, marketing department, ZwickRoell addresses the issue of testing laboratory staff shortages.
ZwickRoell
Delivery delays, production losses or worldwide product recalls, the consequences of bottlenecks in quality control can quickly have far-reaching effects on your business. Shortages in skilled labour, employee turnover, or high absence rates among workers due to illness are among the biggest challenges faced by laboratory or quality assurance managers. So, how can you take the necessary steps to guarantee optimal quality assurance with limited personnel resources?
Identify key positions – prioritise personnel tasks
Depending on the industry, a wide range of testing instruments can be used for quality assurance purposes. If we include pre-testing tasks such as specimen preparation, the number of machine and device options increases even further. For example, a typical testing laboratory in the plastics processing industry uses systems for various testing methods: mechanical testing, microscopic analysis, spectroscopy, thermal analysis, rheometric analysis and physical analysis.
Depending on the testing or analysis method and manufacturer, these instruments demand diverse levels of operator training. Machine operation can often be elaborate, and in addition an experienced specialist, must also be able to directly assess the test results. In such cases, it may be worthwhile investigating which machines or instruments operation can be simplified so that they can be easily used by less experienced personnel while also maintaining the highest level of safety.
For example, advanced testing software guarantees simple operation based on a sophisticated user management program. The user only sees relevant operational controls, which enables them to start testing immediately. With the use of predefined test programs, all important parameters and test sequences that are required for standard-compliant testing are pre-configured. A modern system configuration guarantees consistently identical machine test conditions for tests that are performed on another day or by another user. This helps prevent testing under inadequate conditions and entering incorrect information, and onboarding requirements for new employees are reduced to a minimum. A new user can be ready to, for example, operate a universal testing machine for a standard tensile test after an instructional period of a couple of hours. Intelligent software features and mechanical support tools such as insertion aids for specimens or automatically attaching extensometers facilitate tasks that would otherwise have to be manually performed on the machine.
Digitalise processes – save time and increase safety
Digitalisation has taken on significant momentum in recent years, affecting processes across many industries. This includes the field of materials testing, where the use of digital technologies has greatly increased process efficiencies. The benefits of digitalisation are clear when it comes to testing laboratory processes.
Save time; with the use of digital technologies, testing processes can be automated and accelerated. Time-consuming manual tasks are replaced with digital solutions, leading to shorter test times. For example, 50% of the time required to manually measure specimens using calipers and entering the information into the system can be saved through automated transfer of the specimen dimensions to the testing software, e.g., via a test specimen measuring device.
Maximise accuracy; digitalised testing processes increase precision and accuracy by eliminating sources of human error. In the above-mentioned example, you not only save time, but the scatter of test results caused by incorrect measurements of the specimen dimensions is significantly reduced.
Automate data management; with digital storage of the test results, data is easily managed and evaluated. This makes it easier to monitor and analyse trends and possible errors or defects. With an automated export of the test results into a quality assurance system, employees are relieved of this task. In addition to saving time and having access to data in real time, this feature eliminates manual data transfer, an additional source of potential errors.
Take advantage of pre-configured analysis programs; through centralised availability of all test results, you can have access to pre-designed analysis formats. It is no longer necessary to export data to Excel, merge it manually and subsequently analyse it.
Improve collaborative decision-making; digitalisation allows you to access test results from any location, facilitating collaboration and decision-making efforts.
Leverage automation for repeatable tasks
In many areas of the world, economically developed countries are faced with sparse labour markets, a situation that will likely not subside in the near future. This includes employee shortages in testing laboratories. Today, many businesses are in a situation where consistent automation of a wide range of quality assurance processes is and remains the most important lever for counteracting the lack of qualified laboratory personnel. Materials testing with its strictly defined testing standards, offers an ideal business model for the automation of testing processes.
Increase accuracy and avoid errors; automated systems are less susceptible to human error and can achieve a higher level of accuracy when monitoring processes and results. One example is the scatter of test results, which with the use of a fully automated testing system such as a universal testing machine with automated specimen feeding system, is reduced by approximately 5% when compared with a similar setup incorporating manual operation. Through automated functions, errors can also be minimised at the points of data entry, processing, and analysis, ensuring that decisions are always based on precise and reliable data.
Increase efficiency; automated systems work faster and more efficiently than human testers, accelerating processes and increasing productivity. When performing a tensile test, it takes up to 35% less time with a semi-automated machine, when compared with a manually operated machine.
Save on costs; a positive side effect of an automated solution is saving costs by saving time and resources that would otherwise be used to perform manual tasks. Automation solutions are often accompanied by a stigma of high expense, which is in turn associated with a low return on investment and leads companies to question its efficiency and of course the feasibility of making the investment. There is no doubt that a machine with full or partial automation is more expensive than a manual version. However, with rapidly rising labour costs or costs incurred when laboratory services are outsourced, automation often pays off much faster than you think. For example, the ROI for many fully automated systems is less than 24 months.
Monitor processes and analyse data in real time; automated systems can monitor processes as they occur, allowing you to quickly react to discrepancies or abnormalities and take appropriate corrective action. At the same time, large amounts of data can be analysed quickly and efficiently to identify trends and patterns that are crucial for quality assurance purposes. In addition to test data, you can also manage and evaluate machine data by incorporating testing machine condition monitoring facilities which offer brand new possibilities for predictive maintenance of equipment and thereby helping avoid unplanned, unproductive equipment downtime.